The Path to Lordship Begins in the North

Inside the conference room, Linde looked around and saw that the elders of the Lars family were indeed a group of old men.

He has a very stereotypical appearance; you can tell at a glance that he is a highly respected elder.

Lena was a little nervous next to Lind, probably because she hadn't learned manners when she was young and had been scolded by the elders quite a bit.

Sean, on the other hand, was much more confident. After all, he was the next generation of the Lars family who was given the most hope, and his status as the future head of the family was far higher than that of these elders.

Colin and Ruby were somewhat sidelined. Ruby, who was unable to manage the territory on her own, was not supported by the elders, and Colin, due to his past record of mismanaging the territory, also had fewer elders supporting him.

Although these elders had different thoughts, the eldest elder, who was like Gandalf, was kind and benevolent.

"On behalf of the Lars family, I thank Viscount Lind Roll for his righteous act. The Lars family will remember your kindness."

"Let's skip the pleasantries and get straight to the point."

After accepting the elders' etiquette with composure, Linde spoke directly, too lazy to waste time with these old men and find their ineffective aristocratic rituals a waste of precious time.

Every minute of this newly won victory is precious, and every second will determine the future of the western North.

Many elders were very dissatisfied with Linde's disrespectful behavior, but the Grand Elder cooperated by omitting most of the formalities.

If things had gone according to plan, Winterhold would have transferred the remaining population, territory, resources, and power of the Lars family to the Gray and White Collars.

After all, gray and white-collar workers are nominally considered joint assets of the couple.

This would allow Lind to gain real power while ensuring Lena's position.

But after learning about Sean and Colin on the ship, the elders' opinions became divided.

Lind opened the map and drew a large circle in the western part of the North.

This circle basically includes all the nobles who went on this expedition.

“This entire area will now belong to Lars’ territory, but I need people and an army to help me control these places.”

An elder jumped out and said, "Isn't that obvious? These nobles were originally vassals of our Lars family. Now it's just that we Lars are taking back these territories."

This diminishes Lind's achievements, because these places originally belonged to Lars, so Lind did not defeat the enemy, but rather helped reclaim Lars' territory.

“It is certain that we will help reclaim these territories, but whether it is to grant new lords or to station troops on the land, it should be the responsibility of our Lars family.”

This directly excluded Lind from the Lars family. Before the war, everyone hoped that Lind could raise the banner of Lars orthodoxy, but after the war, no one would have thought that Lind would truly become a Lars person.

“Viscount Rohr, this area is probably enough for your territory.”

Another elder stepped forward and drew a line on the map. This elder believed he was quite fair, since the new territory marked out for Linde on the map was several times larger than the combined size of Grey Collar and Fasen Town.

Linde refused outright: "No, you may have misunderstood. We are not dividing up territories. What we should do is to connect all these territories into one, and these territories should only obey one order. Of course, the same applies to the army."

Seeing that the elders hadn't reacted yet, Linde continued, "You can understand this as meaning that this large area will no longer be granted noble lords in the future, but will be directly managed by officials. From now on, noble titles will only be honorary titles, without real power or control over the army."

Upon hearing this, an elder immediately realized that Linde wanted to become the Great Lord, to monopolize an entire territory, and even planned to establish a state within a state.

These elders completely failed to grasp what Linde was thinking. They viewed the so-called noble titles and the division of real power as merely a means to divide Lars's power, since the Lars family probably held the most noble titles.

Immediately, elders stood up to object, and the opposition grew louder. They had thought everyone was there to negotiate and do business, but Linde was planning to take all the benefits for himself—even though these benefits were originally won by Linde.

The most common way to divide the pie in this world is through fiefdoms. In the eyes of these elders, Linde's refusal to grant and manage the territories of these nobles was tantamount to refusing to share the pie. They had all come with the intention of managing the territories, but Linde had shown them that it was impossible.

But the amiable elder narrowed his eyes at this moment.

"Regardless of the circumstances, even if we do as you say, the one who manages this vast territory should be the heir of our Lars family! Are you trying to take over the Lars family for yourself?"

An elder, who appeared slightly younger than the rest of the group of old men, stepped forward and loudly rebuked Lind.

At the same time, many people began to echo: "That's right, don't think that just because you are a descendant of the empire you can do whatever you want! This position of Grand Lord should be held by the rightful heir, Lord Sean!"

Linde was somewhat exasperated. How did even these elders know about this? However, this was within Linde's expectations. It was unlikely that he could swallow the entire Lars family in one go. He had already prepared to negotiate with these elders.

But then Reina stepped forward, pulled out a battle axe from somewhere, and, with her foot on the negotiating table, loudly demanded, "Linde is my husband, how can he not be considered one of Lars's men?"

Perhaps because Lena's actions were too threatening, the chattering conference room instantly fell silent.

“You guys didn’t support my brother back then, but supported my uncles instead. Now you’re all clamoring for my brother to be the heir. I’ve figured it out. Who the heir is doesn’t matter to you at all.”

"You just want our Lars family to argue for as long as possible. The longer the argument goes on, the higher your status will be, and the more you can take."

“You worthless hypocrites, you couldn’t see through those conspiracies when Grandpa was alive, and you didn’t even try to help him when he was in trouble. What face do you have to represent Lars?”

Sebastian, the old butler who had been standing in the corner, nervously pulled Rena aside and whispered, "Young lady, at least they haven't surrendered."

But Lena ignored the old butler's advice and said directly, "I don't want the title of Lars' heir. I want to choose my husband as the heir of the Lars family. Now that I've said my piece, who agrees and who disagrees?"

The elders looked at each other in bewilderment. The last time this happened was with the former royal family and the Augustinian family. Although the Augustinian family did manage to turn the tide in the end, the former royal family also retreated to the background. How could these elders not be worried?

At this moment, an elder glanced at Sean, who had remained silent, and said loudly, "I object! This heir should also be Young Master Sean. Miss, you didn't participate in the succession war before, so what qualifications do you have to be your husband's heir?"

Before the elder could finish speaking, and before Lena could even raise her axe, Sean stepped forward and slapped the elder across the face.

The elder did a somersault in mid-air and landed freely, looking at Sean with a puzzled expression.

Sean stated directly, "I agree that my brother-in-law should be the heir; he is the one everyone wants."

Upon hearing this, many elders displayed expressions that seemed to say, "We are ready to fight to the death, why has Your Majesty surrendered first?"

But at this moment, the eldest elder, who had been thinking about something, finally spoke up: "What the young lady said is right. Thanks to Mr. Linde, we were able to resolve this crisis. I also agree with the young lady and young master Sean's point of view. From today onwards, Mr. Linde Roll will serve as the head of the Lars family and become the new leader of our Lars family."

Although the First Elder was still smiling, the other elders all bowed in submission upon hearing his words.

The patriarch was actually the former status of Grand Duke Lars in the Lars family. Within aristocratic families, status is not determined solely by official titles, but by seniority within the family. Linde's status could even be said to have transcended the position of the original heir, directly becoming the supreme leader of the Lars family.

Even when talking to the so-called new Lars in the future, Lind will have to sit in the main seat.

Linde looked at the Grand Elder with some surprise, but the Grand Elder simply smiled and nodded.

The meeting ended in an eerie atmosphere, with many elders leaving dejectedly. However, Colin stopped the elders who had criticized Lind after the meeting.

The elders who were stopped by Colin were both nervous and excited. After all, in their minds, Colin was cruel and tyrannical, and had often abused the elders because he was the most favored youngest son.

This was hardly a positive character, and the elders speculated that Colin was dissatisfied with his brother-in-law and was preparing to cause trouble.

But Colin looked at the elders, took the whip handed to him by a servant, and said in a cold tone, "You seem to be being a little too disrespectful to my brother-in-law."